a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Off-Day Odds and Ends

1. So my last game recap was all sorts of emo-ranty. It didn’t help that after the Houston game, Deron and Boozer said:

“We don’t have to make excuses, but it was a tough game for us, a tough turnaround,” said Williams, who committed seven of the Jazz’s season-worst-tying 26 turnovers. “You know, me personally, I tried to get it going. Just really didn’t have the energy.”

“We got (to Houston) about 4 in the morning. …I went to sleep about 5:30, and got up and tried to get it going,” Boozer added. “That’s the NBA, though. I’m not trying to make no excuses. They took it to us; they played (Tuesday) night, too.”

I know on a rational level that I need to stop comparing mere mortals to Stockton-to-Malone. But I can’t help it; I was spoiled during my NBA-formative years. If you don’t want to use “late arrival time in Houston” as an excuse, you don’t bring it up at all. You just go out there and play, and if you lose, you acknowledge that you were outplayed/didn’t have it/whatever. You don’t say, “Well, I’m not trying to make excuses, but…”

I remember listening to an interview with Mark Eaton last year and he talked about how you might be feeling banged up, sore, tired in the locker room before the game, but with S2M–who were banged up more than anyone–sitting there next to you with their focus, preparedness, and singular desire to win, there was no way you didn’t do the same. There was a reason Jazzmen didn’t miss games due to minor/nagging injuries when S2M was around. That was leadership, and we’re missing that right now.

On a semi-related note, numerous coaches have taken to resting their star players for the Playoffs as we appraoch the end of the season. That just tickles my funny bone. I don’t think Jerry would ever do that, and I’m sure as hell that Stockton-to-Malone would have taken it as a personal affront had Jerry ever suggested it. They wanted to earn every penny of their paychecks, and took huge pride in their Ironman streaks. Ah, the good old days…

The Jazz travel schedule has not been bad this year as far as flight delays. But on our recent trip back east, the plane had battery trouble, which delayed us an hour or so. While waiting for a battery I was told that an airplane battery is about the same size as a car battery. How can that be? That’s something I’d better investigate.

After the battery was installed I asked Memo if he felt better now that the plane had a new battery. He said, “I feel better, but there are question marks in my head”. I agreed. If a car battery and a plane battery are about the same size I have question marks in my head as well.

3. On March 29th, I wrote about how for the month of March, Memo was averaging 1.8 blocks per game. It has not escaped my notice that Memo has had exactly 0–ZERO!!!!– blocks since I wrote that. I was on the verge of beating myself with a brush/nearest hard object to atone for my jinxing sins, but then Memo said prior to injuring his Achilles in Houston, that it’d been sore/tight for several days. My fault or not, I feel terrible (it doesn’t help that we had that downward spiral to close last season and started the Playoffs without Memo, and we aren’t exactly playing well right now and could conceivably start the Playoffs again without Memo) and apologize.

4. From the “Just sayin'” files:

Jan. 29: Chris Paul injures knee during game
Jan. 30: The first of Chris Paul’s 25 missed gamesMar. 20: The Hornets play the Jazz
Mar. 22: Chris Paul returnsApr. 7: Chris Paul to miss remainder of season due to finger injury
Apr. 9: The Hornets play the Jazz

5. A link to close: this is a recap of a long time Jazz fan’s first trip to Utah. God willing, I will one day write a post like this of my own (one day, when my bank account balance stops being a joke). Coincidentally, the writer seems to have attended but been left with no particular fondness for Georgetown.